Like the title says my valvespings keep breaking off (the tips where they taper down) varing in lengths from very very tiny to a few cm.

It started when i changed my oil when my car was pretty much stock 98Z A4 w/ 91kish miles... just a yank TT2800 3.0 stall, HPP3 (for gear change 2.73s to 3.23s, i didnt do it the previous owner did; btw i woulda went 3.73s but back to the point). I found pieces of the springs in my oil for the next 3 changes about 7k miles (changed early cuz of the springs). So i decided I needed to do sumthin about it so i decided id change out the springs and put a cam in (gotta get sumthin outa it right ).

So I had a guy put a G5 cam 224/230 581/572 112LSA and Blue Stripe 918s.

After the swap my car developed the infamous TICK and burnt oil fairly quickly every 3k id put in just under a quart (part of this might be due to a stripped bolt in the oil pan which the guy said was already done cuz my oil pan and tranny pan are always COVERED in OIL ).

But my valve spring chipping was cured (so i thought) I went through prob 3 more changes and the magnet on the tip of the drain plug was CLEAN.

I decided I needed to add to the car to complement the cam, and did LTs, LS6 intake, new tranny w/ tci 3800 competition stall.

Well it was time for another oil change so i went out change the oil and i found 2 big pieces of a valve spring end (where it tapers) stuck to the magnet again. Car has 102k on it now

So long long story short what could be causing these things to chip at the taper... the springs are good to 600 lift and the cam obviously isnt that much so .




CLIFFNOTES car is breaking valvesprings off at all around the tapers... what could cause this?? Somewhere I have pics (i think) of the stock ones and how much has been chipped off on over HALF of them.

Thanks in advance.

 

would a rocker be hitting it somewhere.

 

I dont think so... TTT

 

Is it possible these are just pieces from your stock springs that finally made it to the drain plug magnet?

 

That's what I was thinking too. Are you sure the broken parts are from the new springs?

 

not positive that its from the new springs yet (however i find it odd that almost 10k miles later they are just now makin it through the motor)... but the pieces still look awefully new and are pretty thick like the 918s not the stock ones. I havent got a chance yet to dig the old springs outa my parts closet to see if they match up to any of them (tomorrows project). Also Ill take sum pics of it so you can see what im lookin at. Thanks for the ideas.... KEEP THEM COMING!!